ARE DIFFERENCE SCOREs A BETTER PREDICTOR OF FLEXIBILITY THEN END SCOREs IN SIT-AND-REACH TESTS?

Abstract

710 Previous studies suggested that difference scores (DS) in sit-and-reach test is a better indicator for flexibility than using the end scores (ES). The purpose of this study was to verify this suggestion in college students using various sit-reach test protocols. Fifty five college students (36 females and 19 males) were asked to perform the Back Saver Sit-and-Reach test (BSSR), Sit-and-Reach test (SR), and V-Sit-and-Reach test (VSR) as described in previous literature in randomized order. Initial score (IS) was recorded when subject sat with back against the wall and ES was recorded when subject reached forward maximally. The DS was then calculated by ES - IS. In addition, criterion measures of low back and hamstring flexibility were obtained from subjects using the MacRae Wright test (MW) and Goniometric test (GN) respectively. For both ES and DS, as illustrated in the following Table, zero order correlation indicated that all sit-reach tests yielded poor correlation to low back criterion (r=0.12 to 0.27, p>.05) but significant correlation to hamstring criterion (r=0.38 to 0.61, p<.001). These results matched with previous findings. The correlation for ES and DS were high for all sit-and-reach test (r=0.81 - 0.98, p<.001). Test for difference in correlation (repeated samples) demonstrated that all correlation between DS and criterion measures were not different from those between ES and criterion measures (t = -1.3 to 1.5, p>.05). Same trends were observed when data from males and females were analyzed separately. In conclusion, this study suggests that there is no difference between ES and DS in predicting low back and hamstring flexibility across various sit-reach test protocols.Table: . Zero-order Correlation Between Sit-Reach Test Scores and Criterion Measures